Kill It With Magic: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 1) (7 page)

“Danae, thank you for seeing me today.” I bowed my head toward her and made a sweeping gesture with my arms.

“Quaint, Lillim.” Her tongue darted out to lick her ruby-red lips as she spoke, her porcelain teeth flashing for moment. “I’m delighted to see you, too.” She had moved close to me, her breath hot on my neck. Vampires didn’t need to breathe so it had to be just for effect.

“You should just stop trying to charm me.” I was annoyed. “I don’t swing that way at all, and I don’t appreciate you trying to seduce me.”

“Pish.” Her hand waggled outward and took mine. A rush of heat swept through me, and I staggered backward, my knees suddenly weak. She led me from the room, all swishing hips and long legs. I blushed as I followed her wordlessly, visions of uncomfortable things dancing in my head.

“So what did you need to see Logan about?” We entered her bedroom, and my heart was beating so hard that I thought it would burst through my chest. A gigantic four-poster bed made from sleek black wood and accented with soft lavender pillows stood in the center of the room. The wool-silk carpet shimmered under the candlelight cast from several sconces that were placed around the room to provide just enough light to make it feel comfortable. Paintings that were little more than splashes of sun-kissed reds and apricots hung on the pale rose-colored walls.

She dragged me by the hand to her music player where a collection of various pop artists had made quite the home. She paused, sucking on her finger. After several long seconds she grabbed an album and popped it into the player.

“Erm…” I murmured and shook my head. I had to focus, and that was suddenly very difficult to do because all I could imagine was throwing her down on that bed and doing all sorts of things I don’t normally do. I closed my eyes and swallowed. I dug my fingernails into my palms, and the pain brought me back to my senses… at least a little. “I was attacked by an Owl the other day. He stole something from me.”

Her eyebrows arched upward as she put a single finger to my chest. Her warmth rushed through me, radiating out to the tips of my toes. My knees shook so hard under her touch that they gave out, collapsing beneath me. She knelt down and took my hand in hers. Her touch raged through me like wildfire, threatening to consume me completely.

“What would you have me do to make amends?” Her voice was like silk on my skin, and for a second, I couldn’t even breathe. I wanted to take her voice and wrap myself in it, wanted to roll around with it until my body was covered in the sound. I looked up at her, kneeling there with a satisfied smile on her face, and in that moment, my heart turned to ice. My power rose up inside me like an angry serpent, and I yanked my hand away. Danae stumbled backward, a look of fear on her face.

Her hand shook as she reached out to touch me. I grabbed her wrist, squeezing until pain flashed through her eyes. She had been the one putting all sorts of dirty, uncomfortable thoughts in my head, but now, now she looked like she might regret that decision. Her eyes dropped to the floor, and she bent her head forward. “Please, mistress.” Her voice came out like a squeak, so full of fear that it made me release her. “Please don’t hurt me. Please…” Danae fell to her knees sobbing.

I cocked my head, studying her. Deep down I knew this could be an act, but, for some reason, I was pretty sure it wasn’t. As tears bubbled out of her eyes my heart wrenched. Something very strange had happened. I knelt down and put my hand against her cheek. A spark of power leapt from her skin like a tiny static shock. Magic swarmed around her like a cloud of oily bugs. She tried to pull away, but I turned her face toward mine and stared into her eyes. Her abnormally blue eyes were usually crisp like a winter storm. Now they were strangely cloudy, almost opaque.

I stepped back and took a deep breath. Someone was trying to control this vampire, trying to buy time… I wasn't sure why someone would purposely try to make Danae charm me. I mean, no one had known I was coming here until I’d shown up, right? Or maybe they
were
expecting me. Maybe that’s why I’d been detained in the lobby for so long. I sighed. I was going to have to help Danae because it irked me that someone would steal another person’s free will, vampire or not, and try to make her do… things. Maybe we could help each other.

My power built inside me, rising more like a cooling wave than a striking serpent. I envisioned it washing out of me and sweeping into Danae like a cleansing wind. If I opened my magical sight I would have seen my power crashing against the mind control like the ocean slamming against a sandcastle. There was resistance at first, then… nothing.

Danae shook her head as I took her hand into mine.

“Who did this to you, Danae? Is someone trying to keep me busy?” I asked her in my best comforting voice. Which, let me tell you, wasn’t really that good. I’m not exactly the most empathetic person in the world. Games of pin the tail on the werewolf don’t exactly teach you how to comfort and console someone.

“You shouldn’t try to make me feel better Lillim. It doesn't suit you.” Evidently she agreed with me.

“Fine then. I want to know the who and why of the kidnapping. You know, the usual questions.”

“I have no idea who did that.” Her eyes darted around the room, like a mouse suddenly caught alone with a cat.

I smiled. Vampires can’t lie. That’s one of those things most people don’t understand. They can sure twist the truth like hell, but straight up lie… not them. Call it a curse, but she’d given me the answer I wanted… of sorts.

“So why was it stolen?”

“I’m under no obligation to answer you.” Her eyes wavered uncertainly. There was definitely something very strange going on here. Hell, if I didn’t know better I’d say she was still under some kind of mind control.

“I’m aware. But I could really use your help.” My voice was soft, like a comforting wind in a blazing desert.

“Founders only come around every so often…”

“You guys stole a werewolf prince for a favor from—”

“Not a favor. We did it for the power. The kind of power we’re talking about has almost limitless value to a vampire.”

I was pretty sure I was going to say something witty, because hey, that’s my thing, but when I opened my mouth the wall behind me exploded, and I was flung face first across the room.

Chapter 9

I peeled my face from the wall as the loudest footsteps I’d ever heard echoed in the hallway. I had, under no circumstances, expected to see a gigantic fire demon seething with rage when I staggered through the door to identify the new threat. As it stretched its clawed hand toward a fallen vampire, flames licked up and down its reddish form, making it appear solid and translucent at the same time. Oranges and blues danced across its vaguely humanoid body like delicate ballerinas as its eyes settled on me.

A sound like screeching metal and breaking glass erupted from its blast furnace of a maw. Its beady, flame-filled eyes glinted. I don’t know how I knew it was smiling, but I did.

Swell.

The demon moved like smoke, scooping fire out of the very air itself and flinging it in my… no, in our direction, like a softball. Christ! I could probably dodge the fireball, but Danae was standing right behind me. Part of me wanted to let the demon destroy them all, but if these vampires died, whatever information they might have would, literally, go up in flames.

A spell I hoped would keep me from being charred into very tiny bits burst from my lips as I slammed my katana into the ground in front of us. I grabbed Danae with my other arm and whirled my back to the blaze. Fire hit my katana and exploded around us. Searing heat rushed by me, and even through my spell, the edges of my overcoat yellowed. This was not good. If my overcoat got destroyed, it’d lose the ability to magically hold tons of stuff. Then again, if the overcoat kept me from dying, I could live with the loss.

I dropped Danae, who stared at me wide-eyed with fright. “Do something, Lil,” she cried as she tried to scurry backward away from the demon.

“I’m thinking!” If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me to save them I’d be… well, poor. I’d probably have like thirty-five cents. Still, I was technically a Dioscuri, and it was our job to stop supernatural bad guys.

I pulled my wakazashi from its sheath with my left hand and flung it straight at the chest of the demon in one fluid motion. Just as the blade left my hand I was charging forward, a spell on my lips. The blade slammed into the creature with a whoosh, and I screamed wordlessly. A flare of light exploded from my weapon and the demon staggered. Its eyes narrowed as it let out a howl that shook the floor beneath my feet.

That’s when I saw Logan. He was standing just behind the creature; blood streamed down his face. He had planned this. Had he brought this demon here to stop me? Either way, it didn’t seem like he could control it. Otherwise he wouldn’t have lost vampires in the chaos.

“I have him right where I want him,” Logan screamed at me.

“Clearly,” I muttered as fire licked up the walls of his home, engulfing priceless artwork and kitten calendars alike.

The demon ripped my wakazashi from its chest and tossed it away. It took an ominous step toward me as flame spread around its feet, sweeping across the floor like rolling waves. Fire rose up like a wall, and the heat engulfed me. Blisters rose like goosebumps on my bare flesh, making me cry out. Scalding air filled my lungs as I fell to my knees. Coughs wracked my body and tears welled in my eyes. I reached out and put my hands on the hilt of my katana still stuck in the floorboards.

I forced everything away, focusing on the cold touch of Isis’ steel. I stood, tearing the blade from the floor in a flurry of splinters and ash. Danae was nowhere to be found. Great, the vampire was safe. Yippie!

The demon was nearly upon me. The heat radiating off of it was more suffocating than a turtleneck sweater in the middle of July. The creature’s fist came at me, and I flung Isis up to block. My blade wobbled under the creature’s power, but it did not break.

I took a step forward, forcing more of my will toward the demon. It skidded backward, but the flames did not move. They rushed forward, sweeping around me until I was surrounded by fire. The creature reared back with its other fist, but it was all I could do to hold off the blaze as it seethed around me, violent and hungry. The demon’s giant fist struck me, and my feet left the floor.

Breath whooshed out of me as I slammed sideways into the giant window that lined the hallway. There was a shrieking sound, and the glass behind me shattered. I fell out onto the charred remains of the roof and slid on the rain-slicked surface.

My hands shot out as I clawed for purchase on the soaked wood. I gripped something and my body jerked to a stop. My arm screamed in pain; it felt like it had been torn from its socket. I swallowed and shut my eyes. Water was pouring from the sky in buckets. Now that I’d stopped moving, I was good with the rain.

I lunged forward, driving Isis into the roof and grabbed onto it with both hands. I lay like that on the rain-soaked rooftop until the wood beneath my blade crumbled to ash. I slid backward, the wood flaking away beneath my fingernails as I carved gouges into the roof. Then I was falling.

Thud!

It hurt so much that I couldn’t breathe. I struggled for air that would not come. Glass and flaming bits of wood rained down on me as my body finally remembered how to work. I threw my arms up, trying to ward off shards that gouged my flesh.

Gib stood over me with his arms crossed, staring down into my face with rage-filled eyes.

“That’s okay. I really didn’t need you to catch me anyway.”

Before he could respond, the demon exploded through what remained of the wrecked window, moving brazenly in the hellish storm. I was glad Gib was outside because when he saw the demon, he dove forward. His claws reached defiantly into the heat and raked into the ashy flesh beneath. I slipped once in the dark mud as I tried to get to my feet and fell down hard on my knees. Pain flashed through my legs, and I bit my lip to keep from crying out.

The once lavish peaks of the building had been totally consumed by flames, making it resemble an enormous funeral pyre. Thankfully, the rain was starting to beat the blaze down. Every time flames pushed up through the crackling wood, storm clouds seemed to concentrate on it, so that the fire was sent scurrying down into the house. Was it Gib’s doing? He must have seen the blaze from outside and summoned the rain to help with the fire. Elemental magic would likely be his thing after all. Or it could be coincidence.

Gib circled the demon like the predator he was. His wolfish features glinted in the firelight, making him seem more like a bronze god and less like a creature of flesh and blood. He darted forward, raking the demon’s flesh and tearing away gobs of a sickly yellowish substance. Even as I watched, I knew it couldn’t last forever. Each attack was melting Gib’s flesh nearly to the bone, and he wasn’t allowing his body time to heal. If he kept it up, even he wouldn’t be able to heal the injuries.

The rain was coming down so hard that it was like standing in a monsoon. The trees to my left were swaying so violently that they nearly bent in half. The Owl’s gardener was not going to be happy when this was all said and done. My hair was plastered to my face, and I was soaked with muddy water. I wiped my hair from my eyes and crawled to my feet. I reached my hand out and called my katana to me. The blade flew through the air and into my hand, but even that tiny effort caused stars to shoot from behind my eyes. I wasn’t going to be doing much more magic tonight.

I froze when I noticed that the demon caught Gib by the throat. Fire licked down Gib’s skin, but the werewolf kept attacking, kept slashing. Deep wounds continued to open on the fire demon as it stood there, allowing its flame to blaze down Gib’s body. The smell of burning flesh and melted hair filled the air and my gag reflex started to kick in.

Danae screamed from a frost-covered balcony high above. She threw her hands outward and large shards of ice tore through the sky. They sliced into the burning monster, ripping holes that gushed foul yellow ichor where they struck. The demon snarled and dropped Gib. He struggled there, steam curling off him in tendrils.